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 Program Philosophy and Founding Principles Normalization: The program was founded in 1984 as a community-based alternative to institutions which served students with Learning Disabilities. The program was founded to supply a transitional apartment program for individuals to learn the skills necessary to live on their own. From the beginning, the program served as a psycho-educational alternative to traditional “medical model” facilities. The founder was profoundly influenced by the work on “Normalization” by Wolfensberger. Our belief is that our students with learning differences must live, learn and work in environments which duplicate normal real-life conditions. In order to provide as normative an experience as possible, they must live in environments where they learn to do all the things a regular adult does (shop, cook, clean, pay bills, etc). All teaching takes place in environments that will generalize to their life experience afterward. Professional Staff: Every program claims to have professional staff, with good educational backgrounds and experience. When we refer to professional staff we are speaking about not only those qualities, but also staff, who are secure and available to the students.  Our philosophy is to treat our employees like the professionals that they are. To make them secure, so that they are able to focus on their jobs and assist the students. In the over twenty years of operation, we have never missed a payroll. We provide competitive wages, five weeks vacation, a week of discretionary leave, all the regular holidays, full health and dental benefits, a profit sharing plan which averages 13% a year, a matched 401k plan to 5% of salary, good working conditions and administrative flexibility and sensitivity to their needs. The combination of all of this and selecting individuals who are emotionally clear with their own issues, provides maximum availability to student needs. Do what we say we will do: We made a commitment to give the services we have stated that we will provide in our written materials. We continually look at what we have written to make sure it reflects the program as it has evolved. We try not to make promises we cannot keep. We take our mandate very seriously and devote our resources to assisting students in reaching their goals. We understand the trust that families have put in us, and want to fulfill our obligations to provide the very best services possible. A Culture of Learning: How do we stay open to feedback, receptive to change and continue to evolve and have satisfied consumers? We do that in many ways. We mentor a culture of learning for our students by involving them, parents, community members and professionals in the running of our centers. We accept feedback as neutral and want honest feedback. 1) Student Senate: The student senate is elected by the students and gives direct input on programmatic changes, activities and any area of student life. A representative attends the staff meeting to give direct input. 2) Parent/Community Advisory Board: Each center has a parent/community advisory board which helps to develop policy for running the programs and also evaluates the program to provide recommendations for change. A student is appointed to serve on this board also. The board compiles parent evaluations, as well as student evaluations. This information is made into recommendations for implementation by the program. 3) Professional Advisory Board: The Professional Advisory Board is composed of Authors, Lecturers, and experts in the field of learning differences. They provide input on the program’s vision, curriculum development, and overall development. 4) Staff Development Meetings: Three times a year during student breaks, our staff meet to debrief on the semester, and look at all the areas that need to be improved or developed. The recommendations from the Advisory Board are looked at to find ways of implementation. The Parent Student Manual is brought up to date and all operational rules, and curriculum are open for revision. Student input is also looked at for possible changes to the program.  In approaching our students it is of utmost importance that they come to believe that they were made the way they were on purpose and that they are not disabled but have learning differences. Most people learn in one way and they learn in another way. We describe this by using the analogy of an apple computer vs. and IBM computer. An apple computer can do graphics and visual creative work. It can also be used to create music. IBM computers (PCs) virtually run the business world. We rely on them everywhere we go daily. Is an apple computer disabled because it is in the minority of computers? The obvious answer is “no”. As individuals with learning differences we process the world differently than most neurotypical people (who are the majority of our world). We must learn to interface with the IBM’s who run the world. We must learn to speak their language. It is as though we speak Chinese and the whole world is operating their systems with English. We must learn to speak the language of the world (for us that is a social language that we do not understand). There is a good purpose to our learning differences. Under each one lies and asset which is a gem we must recognize and polish. We must continue to work toward understanding our good purpose. When we say that we are inherently valuable, we mean that we don’t have to do anything to become valuable, we already are. This may seem trivial, but it is a huge realization when fully understood. Most of our students have been misdiagnosed, tested, treated, dragged to therapy, been given remediation, medication and anything else their families could try to get them help. The problem is that this creates a second problem which is almost and in some cases bigger than the original learning differences. Pealing away the layers of the onion is necessary to get down to accept who they are the way they were made as being valuable and the way it is supposed to be. Whether their brother or sister went to Yale or their best friend has a girl friend and drives, they were made for good purpose and are inherently valuable. Finding their good purpose and accepting who they are is the first step to becoming healthy self-actualizing adults. Self-awareness and self-acceptance are the keys that unlock the door to a happy and productive life. It’s like the difference between giving someone a fish to eat and teaching them to fish for themselves. Our students with learning differences and Asperger’s Syndrome, know little about themselves and which aspects of these learning differences they possess and what they can do to interface with the neuro-typical world. Just getting them to pass classes or get a degree does not in most cases solve the primary problem which is social competency based. They can easily end up being 35 in an apartment on a SSI check isolated from former friends and family members and under-employed or unemployed. Many of them can work for people that should be working for them. They often are the most knowledgeable person on a job, but have the least amount of power, salary or job security. This is the crux of our philosophy in dealing with them. They need to understand this very clearly and be given the assistance to learn the social competencies necessary to not only survive, but flourish. 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College Internship Program | 17 Main St. Lee, MA 01238 | 1-877-Know-CIP | Fax: 413-243-2517 | admissions@berkshirecenter.org |